


Down Hill

by solar_celeste



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Oops?, Sledding, this was supposed to be a Christmas fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 08:03:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17260577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solar_celeste/pseuds/solar_celeste
Summary: The fam decides Damian needs ‘sledding experience’. It was supposed to be a time of family fun and self reflection but... Things go down hill.Literally.





	Down Hill

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the ending, its a little sloppy.
> 
> ALSO, expect the next chapter of Haunted later today or tomorrow. I am SO sorry about the lack of updates.

Damian’s fingers fumbled with the pencil in his hand as he worked on sketching the falling snow. He had multiple pages of elegant pencil strokes, all dedicated to the glistening substance. Sure, before coming to Gotham Damian knew what snow was, he wasn’t incompetent like Drake after all. It was just that before coming to Gotham Damian hadn’t seen snow like _this_.

There was nearly three feet in every open area of the manor grounds, enough to close the schools and roads. Enough to bring Damian’s siblings home until new years.

But he was cold. He wasn’t used to the cold and dreariness of Gotham like his siblings were. He was from the desert and Gotham was _cold_.

That’s why he often found him self sitting by the fire, swaddled in blankets. Or shivering in bed because he did not (no matter what pictures or evidence his father or Grayson claimed to have) cuddle or sleep in those cursed footie pajamas Pennyworth insisted would keep him warmer.

He did not.

Well, he only occasionally slept in them because Titus found them soft.

Not that Damian cuddled with Titus.

“ Ready, Dami?” He looked up, it was Cassandra, standing in an unreasonably puffy white jacket. And there were black pants of a similar material... what even _were_ those. It was a wonder she could move.

“ For what?” He kept his tone neutral. He knew better than to be cross with Cassandra.

“ To play in the snow, Dames!” Ugh, Damian knew Grayson’s overjoyuous voice anywhere.

“ I do not _play,_ Grayson.” He, however, had no reason not be cross with his oldest brother.

“ Okay then... what about... training? By competing in sled races and snow ball fights and snowman building?”

“ Excuse me?”

“ You know... sledding, snowball fights, snowmen?” Ugh, how did Drake bypass Damian’s traps?

“ There was no snow in Nanda Parbat, Drake. Perhaps you should reconsider your prematuregraduation.”

“ Says the third grader.”

“ I’m in fourth!”

“ Enough you two!” Grayson was losing his temper, Damian was on thin ice. “ We are going to have a nice vacation, and that means getting along.”

Damian could hear Drake snort under his breath, he silently agreed. Getting along in _this_ family? They all knew Grayson had one heck of an imagination but that was a little too absurd. Even for Dick.

“ We get along, or I get Alfred.” How dare Cassandra take Grayson’s side! She was supposed to be with Damian! Or at the very least neutral...

But the threat did change things. No one wanted Alfred involved, in situations like that, he could be scarier than Bruce.

Speaking of which, there was father now. Damian was just opening his mouth to demand his father side with him and tell his siblings this ‘play bonding’ ritual they were speaking of was beneath them, when the man himself betrayed him.

“ Jason and I brought the sleds to the old hill, we’re ready for you now if you’d like.” The _Batman, playing._ And betraying his own flesh and blood, disgusting.

“ Father, I refuse-“

“ That means _all_ of you, Damian.”

“ I do not own the proper attire.” It was an excuse, and the truth. He did not own those odd pants his siblings, and even his father, all seemed to.

“ We have some old ones of Dick’s that will fit.” Damian was silent, of course they did, it was just his luck.

Seeing no escape, Damian allowed Cass and Dick to grab ahold of his arms and pull him down the hall after his father. He voiced how he deserved better than _hand-me downs_ the whole way.

***

Damian felt like an abomination to his bloodline. He stood on the ‘old hill’ clad in Grayson’s old (and bright blue) snow pants, and his black winter jacket. He also wore his father’s childhood snow-boots, a hat he could barely see under, and a pair of mittens that restricted his hand movement so much he was struggling to make fists.

And he _really_ wanted to punch something.

He reluctantly admitted that the hill _was_ respectively impressive. It was fairly steep with at least 400 ft of run on before the property fence, which, over here, was old and rotting wood.

Damian bet someone would be going through the fence before the sun set.

Anyhow, it wasn’t the scenery that was sparking Damian’s annoyance. It was the chatter from his siblings, the memories of sledding years prior. _His_ father talking about all the ridiculous things his siblings did years ago with a sled and some snow.

He was the only one with _blood_ relation to Bruce. _He_ was the one who should know what the hell you even do with a sled. _He w_ as the one who should be recounting his past experiences and memories with his father.

It wasn’t that he felt jealous, so much as... isolated?

What was done, was done he supposed.

“ So Dami, want me to show you how it’s done?” Dick was holding a round and metal slab with two handles, one on each side. Damian supposed that was the sled.

“ I do not require a demonstration Grayson, but if you and your childish needs cannot wait your turn, then I supposed you can go first.” Dick smiled. That’s Damian-ise for: ‘please show me I’m confused.’

“ Sure thing kiddo.” Damian scowled at the nickname but looked on with interest as Dick took multiple steps back.

He watched his oldest brother take a handful of leaps as a running start and fling himself onto the sled. He took off down the hill, leaving a slightly indented path in his wake. It looked... fun.

Not the fun Grayson claimed to get in playing board games (more like bored games in Damian’s view) it looked more like the fun he got from swinging on roof tops. An adrenaline rush accompanied by the light, welcomed fluttering of your stomach.

He watched again as Drake and Cassandra followed suit on two more sleds. They looked so... happy. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t envious.

“ Do you wanna go with me squirt or by yourself?” Damian considered the offer. He assumed Todd meant side by side, in _separate_ sleds. So he agreed to decent together. Because really, what harm would it do to ride side by side?

It was Todd’s fault for not clarifying. Just like it was Todd’s fault when Damian spluttered in surprise as he was plucked off the ground like a feather and set into his older brothers lap.

Jason pushed them off. Hard.

“ Todd!” Damian did not yelp, he did not. It was an outraged shout if anything. But he couldn’t say that the strong, secure arms around him weren’t un welcome. Because the hill was _steep_ , and this was _much_ different from grappling.

About midway down, they passed their other siblings as they were on they’re way up. Dick’s coo could be heard from Metropolis.

Even though Damian _knew_ he would be hearing about this once they returned to the hill, the wind in his face and Todd’s laughter in his ear was enough to make him smile himself.

He lost it almost as quickly though, because why couldn’t he have been doing this all his life? Obviously not with snow, but perhaps it would work in the sand dunes?

He just didn’t _understand._ His mother loved him just as much as his father did, and yet, her methods of teaching and disciplining were so different from his father’s. He suspected one of them was wrong, he just didn’t know which. And he couldn’t see a day in the near future where he would be able to decide.

They slowed to a stop near the bottom, their combined weight (even the small portion Damian contributed) slowing them on the now flat surface.

Jason abruptly halted them with his foot on the flimsy fence as soon as they were within reach. Then, because he was feeling daring with his second life, the man flipped Damian onto his shoulders and took off up the hill.

Now you see, Damian _would_ have refused the contact if it had not had prevented him from walking up that steep hill. And the _height_ , because Todd was so _tall_ , and with his legs draped on either side of Todd’s neck, Damian felt like he could touch the heavens if he reached enough.

“ That was so cute Dami! Look you’re smiling! Can you go with me?” Grayson’s exclamations surprised him, he hadn’t realized they had made it to the top of the hill already.

“ Tt. I am _not_ smiling Grayson. Check your eyesight.” Damian hastily accepted Todd’s offer of a boost down. “ And I do not need to be continuously accompanied.”

“ That’s not fair! Jason got to be your first time, I should at least be your second!” Grayson sounded like a child, Damian scowled.

“ Were you accompanied on your first two sledding experiences?” His hands are on his hips and it’s supposed to be intimidating but his small size and childish frown make it cute.

Grayson’s smile falters.

“ Well Dami, I was too little to remember.”

Grayson was _too young_ to remember. Because he had been doing this since he could write his name. As Damian should have been.

That response must have been the final straw because something snapped in Damian. He gave an angry growl and spun a one eighty, yanking the sled from Jason’s grip.

“ Damian!” But he ignored his father’s protests.

Without looking back, he mimicked Grayson’s earlier movements, and sprinted forward onto the sled and down the hill.

***

Damian was seeing red.

Then it turned black.

Before everything became _cold._

He had just been on the hill, why was everything so cold?And dark, it was really dark. Needles stabbed at his neck and face. Ice was pressed beneath his clothing and glacier cooled water stung against his skin.

He curiously attempted to flex his muscles and found they were frozen stiff and numbed from the cold. His thoughts too were hazy because he knew he should know where he was, the feeling seemed so familiar.

Familiar and disorienting.

His lungs were screaming to him, stinging with discomfort. It was a feeling he knew, needing to cough but knowing he is not able to, his body won’t allow it. He had the feeling of knowing there is something horribly wrong.

In one direction the darkness seemed more forgiving, perhaps a light source? But Damian didn’t seem to be going that way. He was drifting. He was drifting further into the darkness.

Perhaps it was the loss of light, or maybe, the closing of his eyes.

***

The first and only thought on Bruce’s mind was _get to Damian._

Call it father’s intuition or bat instinct, whatever, but as soon as he saw Damian leave on that sled he _knew._ This wasn’t going to end well.

So he sprinted, and how he didn’t fall he didn’t know. He could vaguely hear his other children following his lead, multiple pairs of feet shuffling through the snow.

He ran with everything he had, because an angry Damian is a reckless one. Because _Damian doesn’t know how to stop a sled._ Because Bruce knows there’s a pond beyond that rickety fence. One that’s most likely, thinly iced, dusted in a concealing blanket of snow, and waiting for a victim to swallow.

Bruce barely heard Dick’s strangled cry when the sound of ice breaking reached their ears. Nothing was stopping him when he began tearing off clothing mid run, when he braced him self, and launched off shaking legs into the icy water.

Bat senses kicked in, mixed with the burning rage of a worried father and he swam deep into the pond. The biting temperatures and his cooling blood didn’t bother him as he pumped his arms and legs and searched continuously until he saw that familiar, bright electric blue. Never before had he loved Dicks horrendous taste in brightly colored clothing more.

He grabbed with clumsy, yet still impossibly firm hands, at his son and wasted no time kicking back to the surface once the boy was safely gathered in his arms.

With an explosion of colors and noise, Bruce emerged from the chilling water. An all too limp boy dangling in his arms.

“ Oh my God.....”

“ Fucking shit!”

“ Dames!” And Dicks quiet tears echoed loudly in his ears. Cass offered him both his and her jacket as Dick and Jason took Damian and began to hurriedly undress him. Tim had the job of keeping Bruce at bay.

“ We need to get him inside, both of you.” Thank Tim for being the voice of reason and stating the obvious.

“ Fuck! He’s turning blue!” Jason sounded more frantic than half the family had ever heard him, taking off his own jacket and bundling it around his kid brother.

Bruce’s thoughts were a mess, different facts and calculations running through his head. He was struggling to remember how fast hypothermia worked on someone Damian’s size but he couldn't remember. Exact numbers were a loss but he did still have common sense. And he knew Damian was _little, tiny_ and the cold would get to his un acclimated body _fast._

And there was more sprinting and more hurried foot steps and Bruce was being torn apart because his little boy was turning _blue_ and all that mattered was that they make it back to the house in time.

***

And they did, they must have because there’s running water and a warm, burning feeling that almost seems to hurt _more._ Damian doesn’t know where he is, everything was just _cold_ and now it’s _burning_.

There are voices, there all asking if he can hear them. He _can_ , it’s just.... he thinks he forgot how to respond. But his eyes are opening and everything’s in color again and that burning feeling is subsiding to warm tingle.

It takes him a few moments but his eyes are open fully now and he can see the entirety of his family before him. He knows it _should_ bother him that he’s sitting in a tub in nothing but his briefs in front of his _sister_ but it doesn’t. Because Damian has a suspicious feeling that he almost _just died_ and being with his family is exactly what he wants.

Suddenly, all the negative feelings and the jealousy from earlier are gone and he allows himself to smile.

He doesn’t ask what happened, he doesn’t want to know. Because that’s not the memory he wants.

It’s this one. One where people are looking and smiling him like he is the most important thing in the _world._ Like they would do _anything_ for him. Like they couldn’t be more happy that he’s their’s.

And he realized that is doesn’t matter that he may not have had them when he was younger, because he has them _now_.

Because before him stands a family.

 

 _His_ family.


End file.
